The Exilian World Service

[Jubal]

Right, the idea of this thread is as follows; each member gets one and only one post, in which they can go into as much detail as they like about their home town, village, or region. (If someone's already done your town/village, do the region, and vice versa). We then get loads of interesting info about interesting places, in theory. Note that if you're not keen on people knowing where you live you can do another place you know well, or even not give the name of your town. Do include lots of history, local politics, geographic features of interest, and so on.

PLACES;
Tottington, Near Manchester, UK (Son Of The King)
Lopham, South Norfolk, UK (Jubal)

[Son of the King]

Seems like a good idea, don't know why there hasn't been any. I shall begin.


I live in a middle-sized village (I presume its a village, even though its basically an extension of Bury nowadays) called Tottington, about 2 miles from Bury (at least I think it is... Its about 40 mins walk away). I think I might officially live in Walshaw, but only by about 10 metres, the boundary used for deciding which polling station my parents (and soon me) have to go to is the stream which runs next to my garden.

The first mention of Tottington in the history books is, I have been led to believe, a reference to Brookhouse Bridge in the Domesday Book. This may or may not be true, and I can't remember who told it me. Anyway, "Tottington" means "Tota's people's village" in Old English apparently.

Tottington was a large farming township in the middle ages, and part of the larger area of The Royal Manor of Tottington.

Tottington, (the ROYAL MANOR of) extends from Tottington-lower-end to the N. of Eatonfield chapel a distance of 9 miles
Tottington, a large township in the parish of Bury, distinguished by the higher and lower end, and together composing the "Royal Manor of Tottington," the higher end of which is to the E. of Edgeworth, and to the W. of Shuttleworth; and the lower end, to the N. of Elton, and the W. of Walmesley

Enough random mumblings anyway...

Some interesting facts about Tottington, and interesting places there.

• I live there
  
• Holcombe Hill is the main landmark looking North from where I live, and I can see Peel Tower on top of it. Peel being Robert Peel who came from nearby.
  
• Whitehead Gardens - This memorial garden exists in memory of the people who died when a stray bomb hit a row of cottages here in WWII. The blast from the bomb smashed windows and did other minor damage in a lot of the surrounding area as well.
  
• The Lines - An old railway line that ran from Greenmount (I think) into Bury, before connecting with the main line. It was one of the first DC electrified railway lines in the world, and now is part of the Kirklees Valley Trail. The viaduct crossing a lodge (reservoir) is still intact, and forms part of this trail.
  
• The mills in Kirklees Valley contributed to the growth of Tottington in the 19th century, and Lowry (I think) painted a painting of the entrance of one of them.

[Jubal]

Good info, I hadn't noticed you'd posted that! I should do my area too.

Lopham Ford

Lopham Ford used to be a village called Lophamford in its own right which is recorded as having had a market cross and is shown on maps from the 1500s. It is also recorded as having had the Duke of Norfolk's jail there. It must have shrunk and disappeared by the 1720s to 30s when it stops appearing. South and North lopham to the north still exist.

The ford is the watershed of the Little Ouse and Waveney rivers, and thus the main crossing-point between Norfolk and Suffolk; if the ford (formerly a ford, now there's a road over it) did not exist Norfolk would technically be an island. This has given the place importance through the ages, and archaeological finds date back as far as neolithic axe-heads. On either side of th force the gorund was once very marshy but the channels were dug much deeper and straightened at some point (one historian hypothesised that some straightening was Roman era but this seems very unlikely).

The ford was considered to be strategically important up to modern times as well as having been a trade route. In World War Two, mines were planted under the road in case the Germans landed in Norfolk. The mines could be detonated, pushing the enemy tanks into the wooded and marshy areas on either side where they would be unable to manouvre. The fenlands on the west side were used as a bomb-testing range too. They are now one of the homes of the rare Fen Raft Spider, Dolomedes plantarius.

South Lopham

South Lopham has a few important points of historical interest.

Firstly its church is very old, with an old Norman tower in the centre and some parts even possibly being Saxon. The central tower is a slightly unsusual and interesting feature, as most churches have the tower at one end. In addition, it should be noted that the towers of North Lopham, South Lopham and Redgrave (which is just south of the ford) form a perfect straight line. Whether this is by accident or design I don't know. History-wise it was given to monks from Thetford by Henry II; this was presumably reversed in the dissolution of the monasteries.

There is a Roman villa in Lopham, although it has never been fully excavated. Apparently it includes a bath suite and some mosaics, though. South Lopham has therfore probably been more or less continously inhabited from the Neolithic to the present; certainly Stone Age, Roman, Saxon, and Medieval stuff is all very much present there.

Wonders of Lopham
The last thing in Lopham is its three "wonders" - hardly the 7 of the ancient world, but they impressed locals in the medival era. One (usuall yhtird, but I'll get it out the way as it's the least exciting) is the ford itself; two rivers appearing with 9 rather flat metres of ground between them is really pretty unusual, it has to be said. The other two are the selfgrown style; this was a tree that actually grew perfectly into the right shape to be used as a style and was thus built into a fence and used as one. The tree has now been cut down, sadly and there are no records as to where it once stood. The last wonder has survived rather better, though it's sitting in a field somewhere and I've never seen it myself. This was the Oxfoot Stome, and it has a little local myth around it.

Apparently in early medieval Lopham a wondrous cow/bull appeared. I say cow/bull; it appeared as a bull but had teats and gave milk as a cow would - and it gave amazing quantities of milk, enough for the whole village and more. It could pull ploughs better than any normal beast, and so all the work was done in half the time, for it needed no guid to plough the fields. Eventually the people of Lopham found that they had so much cheese and milk that they could eat no more. So, they loaded cheeses onto a cart and took them all to market. They tasted amazing, and sold very quickly. They then found that they had vast amounts of money, which they spent of course on ale, which came home by the cartload. The whole village gathered around the cow and started drinking and merry-making for days. However, whilst everyone was stiff drunk they had forgotten to tend to or milk the magic cow; all of a sudden it gave a great bellowing roar, and broke out of its field. As it left - never to be seen again - it stamped in a rock, so hard that it left the imprint of its hoof deep in the stone. This is the Oxfoot stone, and it serves as a reminder not to get carried away with success. If you wish for a boring explanation, it seems likely that the "hoof-print" is actually the imprint of a bivalve fossil, but nevertheless it's a good story.

So, that's Lopham I guess. Anyone else gonna post?

[Oxtocoatl]

I live in Helsinki, the glorious capital of a land called Finnland.

Helsinki was founded in 1550 by swedish king Gustav I Vasa, originally ment to compete with baltic as a harbour for russian merchants. The city, however, remained small and poor until 1809, when tsar Aleksander I, by the request of his best frend Napoleon, seized Finland and moved its capital to Helsinki, which is closer to st. Petersburg.

Not long before the russian conquest had the swedes completed the mighty fortress of sveaborg (Viapori in finn.), wich raised the citys political status considerably. Aleksander and his successors also built the city great and filled its centre with palaces and cathedrals. (Maybe filled is not the quite right word, but they built a lot of stuff.)

In 1917, when the russian empire collapsed and Finland gained the long waited independence, Helsinki remained as the capital. When an open civil war broke out between the social classes, Helsinki was taken over by the working class. When the civil war was practically solved after the white (higher social class, the rich people) emerged victorious in the fierce street fighting at the battle of Tampere, Helsinki remained the last red (socialist) stronghold, until it was captured with the assistance of german troops (There are still bullet-sized holes in the door of the finnish national museum).
Yet Helsinki remained the capital of the finnish republic.
When the soviet union invaded in 1939, Helsinki was bombed several times. It also served as the headquarters of marshall Mannerheim, who lead the finns in several battles, which the russians felt humiliating (and for a reason). When the Mannerheim-line in the Kareliya eventually broken, Mannerheim spared Helsinki from conquest by signing a peace-treaty, in wich the soviet union gained "enough land to bury their dead."

Helsinki is located on the southern coast of Finland. It has a population on half a million souls, wich is very high, remembering that the entire Finland only holds the population of c. 5 000 000 people. Helsinki and the surrounding countryside covers all the farming-suitable land in Finland. As the capital it naturally holds the govermental buildings and the presidental palace.

Not much is really left to tell. I live there. The public rapid transit network sucks. And that should be it.

[Hopit]

can I believe my eyes? other Fin?!?!?!

Helsinki and the surrounding countryside covers all the farming-suitable land in Finland.

that's wrong tou...
ja selv

[Phoenixguard09]

Aha this is cool. Let's give it a shot but I live in Australia so I don't really have any interesting history.

I live in an area known as Greenbank which is a small semi-rural area made up of a hell of a lot of acreage. The name Greenbank is quite honestly a bit moronic as, just like everywhere else in southern Queensland, it barely rains. As a bizarre character trait, I hate the rain. It depresses me. But anyway, back to Greenbank.

The public transport in the area is virtually non-existent forcing everyone to use a car. The closest shopping centre is a good fifteen to twenty minute drive from where I live, so running there and back again with the groceries would probably be a good way to stay in shape. Not that I've ever done it.

Greenbank has two major legends that I can think of. The first is that of a nameless outlaw who operated in the area in the early 1900's. Responsible for at least three murders, the legend goes that he still rides around looking for valuables to steal.

The other legend is the so-called Beast of Pub Lane which is reputed to be a large, black cat-like creature.

Funnily enough, the slightly hilly area known as Teviot Downs was discovered by a man named Robert Lyon. Now what is quite amazing is that the street I live on is named after him but the scary part is, my great grandmother on my father's side was Robert Lyon's neice.

That's it I think. Not very interesting, mainly because I wasn't born in this state. Anyway, hopefully someone else does one of these, it's a cool idea.

[Othko97]

As SotK has already taken Tottington, I'll move up a notch to Bury.

Bury is old English for castle, fort or stronghold, or an equivalent to the modern English borough.

Located in Lancashire, Bury was originally a mill town which emerged during the Industrial Revolution, focused on textile manufacturing. Bury has apparently got a "World Famous" Market, although no-one I've met who isn't from Bury has ever heard of it... Anyway, Bury is also notable for the traditional Black Pudding, a sausage made of pig's blood, which is often eaten as a snack and is sold in the 'world famous' open air market.

Bury mainly starts in the Industrial Revolution, but it goes further back, being centred around an ancient marketplace, with signs of Roman occupation even further back. Other interesting parts of history in Bury are Bury Castle (Little but a few buttresses in the ground now, but was once a fortified manor), and Gristlehurst Hall (a manor house now completely gone, although it was one of Henry VIII's hunting grounds apparently). Bury is also the home of the Lancashire Fusiliers, now amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

The Lancashire Fusiliers were formed in 1688 and were originally named Peyton's Foot Regiment, after the Colonel who commanded them - Sir Richard Peyton. Their name continued to change to the Colonel they were under until 1751, when they were renamed the 20th Regiment of Foot, a regiment renowned for their bravery at Minden, possibly the only time in history an infantry regiment successfully charged a cavalry regiment. The regiment also fought at Culloden in 1746, and in Canada under General John Burgoyne (this was only included as that is the exact name as one of my English teachers :L). Their name was agin changed to the East Devonshire Regiment in 1782. They also fought in the Crimean war at Alma and Inkerman, and in the Napoleonic wars as "the backbone of Wellington's army". Renamed the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1881 after 99 years of being known as the East Devonshire Regiment (the regiment originated in Devon somehow), the regiment fought extensively in both world wars. The Lancashire Fusiliers are famed for fighting in Gallipoli in 1915, one of the most unsuccessful campaigns in the First World War, and earned 6 Victoria Crosses "before breakfast". The regiment also has the Somme as a Battle Honour, and is also the regiment in which J.R.R. Tolkien fought in in the First World War. In the Second World War the regiment fought extensively with the Chindits, and in Africa. A notable figure from this time period is Francis Arthur Jefferson, who picked up a PIAT gun (a large anti-tank weapon, usually requiring 2 people to fire) and destroyed two tanks alone, to protect the British camp.

Some Landmarks around Bury are:
Holcombe Hill
The 'world famous' market
The Parish Church
Peel Tower
The East Lancashire Railway

Some people you may have heard of from Bury are:
Elbow (band)
Sir Robert Peel (British Prime Minister)
Phil and Gary Neville (Football/Soccer Players)
Many, Many Soap and Reality TV stars 

Sorry for the huge section on the regiment, it's just that that's what I know most about and also what I find most interesting.

[TTG4]

Let's contribute a bit to this.

I'm from Coventry in the west Midlands, the 10th largest city in England and the 13th largest in the UK. We're the furthest city from the coast in all of Britain, making it very easy to forget that the country is one huge island!

Coventry actually predates the more major nearby city of Birmingham and is theorised t have grown from a small bronze age settlement. The Romans had a village at Baginton and there is a reconstructed Roman fort on the outskirts of the city called Lunt fort.

Jumping forwards to the 11th century we hit the first reason you may have heard of us, lady godiva. She was a noblewoman who, according to legends from at least the 13th century, rode nude through the streets of Coventry to protest the Earl of Mercia's (her husband!) new taxation rules. Accounts from the 18th century bring in a new layer (though it is argued it was in folk knowledge further back). These tales say that the earl decreed that no-one was to look at lady godiva as she rode through the streets. Everyone obeyed except one man known as Tom, who was struck blind or dead (depending on your source). Hence the term 'peeping Tom'.

During the English civil war, Coventry was on the parlimentarian side and was home to a large prison for royalists. The people of Coventry treated these prisoners quite poorly, they were literally never spoken to. Hence the phrase 'sent to Coventry', which in Britian means to ostricise someone.

A monastry come country home on the cities outskirts called coombe abbey (now a country park) was involved in the gunpowder plot. King James I daughter Elizabeth was educated there and had the plot succeeded, she was to be abducted from the abbey and put on the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.

Coventry has always been a centre for ndustry, dating back tothe cloth trade in the 14th century. In more recent years it had a large motoring heritage (and is still home to Jaguar/Land Rover) which made it a huge base of wartime maufacturing in world war 2. This resulted in firebombing on the 14th of November 1940, which destroyed the historic cathedral and most of the old buildings. This also led to another new term, to 'coventrite' meaning to attack a city with the single goal of levelling it, much as the RAF later did to Dresden. The ruins of the cathedral have been left to stand as a symbol of reconcilliaton and the remaining historic buildings have been moved to a single street as part of the renovation of the city centre.

After the war, Coventry became the first town to have a twin, namely Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and later Dresden. It is now twinned with a total of 27 towns and cities.

Coventry is home to two universities; Coventry University and Warwick University, which is part of the Russel group of elite universities.

Famous people (there are quite a few, so here's a selection):
Lady Godiva
Sir Henry Parks - Founder of Modern Australia
Sir Frank Whittle - Inventor of the Jet engine
The Specials - Well known Ska band

[Jubal]

Unpinned - fun thread and more contributions would be great, but we've had none in half a decade so...